A Valentine's Horror
by Daaro Moltor
Summary: It's Valentine's day, and George Weasley have come up with a new potion, potentially lethal to Fred's well-kept secret.


Love is nice. Everyone thinks so.

Kids, old people, siblings, parents and _lovers_.

Valentine's Day is the day those people bloom. Valentine's day is the day I gloom. I did_ not_ intend that to rhyme.

Sure I've got a nice big family with a ton of siblings and I love them all very much.

Especially _one_ of them. And that is basically why I've got a problem with Valentine's day.

–

"Fred! Fred, wake up you sleepyhead!"

He moaned tiredly and pulled a spare pillow over his head.

"No... m'comfy..." he groaned back.

"Get u-up!" George said in a sing-song voice.

"And why the bloody hell should I do that...?" he said, but despite his words turned around groggily and opened his eyes. As a reward for that he got a wet sloppy kiss, right on his lips.

"What did you that for!" he demanded, and much to his embarrassment his voice cracked.

"Because it's a wonderful day Freddy-kins, and I love you!"

Flushed and confused he stared at George as he sat up.

"Have you tired our Whoozy-Go-Fuzzy-elixir again, George? I thought we agreed that you'd throw that away", he said and glared suspiciously at George to see if his ears had gotten green dots, just as they had the last time George had drunk that damned potion. No green was visible beneath all the red hair.

"Don't be silly, Fred, I would never do that", George said sincerely.

"Then what is wrong with you?" he demanded.

"_Nothing _is _wrong _with me, Fred! Quite the opposite actually!"

He sighed. George was going to make him beg for the piece of information. He was not at all in the mood for it. He had slept far too little, and the small, platonic peck George had planted on his mouth did nothing for his mood. Damned to hell brotherly affection.

"What's so wonderful then?" he sighed finally and gave in.

"It's February fourteenth! It's Valentine's day! And I have a brilliant new bestseller!" said George as he practically danced through the room.

Fred himself decided that he was to tired for this and fall back against the bed again.

"George, my dearly beloved brother, may I point out a flaw in your brilliant plan?" he said to the roof.

George stopped his dancing and made a mock bow.

"Yes, oh wise one, share your knowledge?"

"We _do _have to _make _this brilliant invention of yours before we can sell it, and – as you pointed out before – Valentine's day is _today",_

George suddenly landed heavily on his stomach with a beaming smile.

"You miss the good stuff, Freddy-kins, I've already made the potion, and it works! That's why I woke you up!"

He stared at George. Usually it took them _both _weeks to finish a started plan. He had to admit to himself; George had woken his curiosity.

"What? What have you done? How did you do it?"

George practically bounced onto his chest, obviously overly enthusiastic and more than pleased with himself. The bouncing, though, was a bit too suggestive to Fred's professionally perverted brain (how could he possibly work with what he did if he _wasn't _perverted?).

"It's brilliant! Valentine's day is for couples, but what about those who doesn't have a girl or boyfriend? So I came up with this brilliant idea; we could make those people _tell _who they are in love with!"

It felt as if his heart froze from the inside.

_No, I can't tell him. I can't!_

"How do we do that?" he tried to sound as skeptical as he possibly could. Which was hard with his twin bouncing happily on his chest.

"I've already done it! It was surprisingly easy, just to mix Love potion with Veritaserum and add some moonstone, rose thorns and Ashwinder eggs and _boom_ – it was done!"

Oh sweet mother of Merlin, that sounded like it could work.

"No side effects?"

"No side effects",

"Completely harmless?"

"Completely harmless",

"Tested it?"

"Tested it!"

He gave in. There was no use in questioning the basics any further; his brother knew them as well as he did.

"Fine then, we'll sell it..." he sighed and made an effort to shove George of his chest. George just ended up sitting over his pelvis instead. He blushed.

"Yes! I knew you'd agree!" George beamed and jumped of his lap.

He sat up and rubbed his face in his hands. It was a _really_ good idea. He just wished his brother would have his strikes of geniality sometime around lunch instead. And this mid-day thinking resulting in an idea that preferably didn't held the power to revel his well-kept secret.

Incredible-lying-to-your-other-half-mask on. Mission: hide the secret at any cost.

Fred was supposed to be enthusiastic. If he'd been normal through and through, he would've been enthusiastic.

"This is fabulous! We'll even break our own _most-sold-in-one-day_ record!" George said as he did something suspiciously similar to a rain-dance.

He took a deep breath.

"I'm not disagreeing with you, bro'!" he said as he climbed out of bed with a (false) merry grin.

George finished his rain-dance and spun around with a small glass bottle in his hand.

"Just look at it! Look at it! Doesn't it look absolutely perfect!"

The small vial contained a pink, kind of fluffy potion. It looked like small clouds was trapped inside the glass. The smell that came from it made something inside of him stir, but also woke an unmistakeable flutter. He knew without further examination that it would work perfectly. And that it was pretty was a plus; they always sold more of the pretty potions.

Why did his brother need to be such a fucking genius? Ah well, he knew there was a reason to why he loved him. The words almost escaped from his lips, but he managed to hold them back.

But Georges smile was still doing things for him. "Good work, George." he said, fondness evident in his voice. His eyes probably sparkled like snow on a Christmas morning, but right now it didn't matter, right now there was other things to blame the sparklyness on.

The grin George gave him made the stir he had felt from the potion seem like nothing.

"It's perfect! And it's so easy to do! I've already made kettles of it upstairs!" George confessed. In a normal situation, that should've made Fred pissed. They weren't supposed to hide their new products from each other, and if they did, there was no way it'd have been acceptable to mass-produce it without the other's permission. But in this situation – this not normal one – he was in love with his brother and the potion was fucking brilliant. Hence the lack of anger.

He was, though, scared shitless. The potion was a lethal threat to his equally deadly secret.

"Here!" George said enthusiastically.

"What? I'm not even dressed, take it down to the store yourself! "

Sure, they lived on the second floor in the three-storey building (the shop itself below their apartment the storage/laboratory above) so he didn't really have to walk around outside in the Diagon Alley, but going down to the shop in just his boxers with huge windows all over the store, allowing bypassers to see just about every inch of him, wasn't something he felt like doing.

"No, drink it you dimwit!" George said with a teasing grin.

Going downstairs, even _without_ boxers, suddenly seemed like a good idea. If it meant that he could escape this grim fate.

His laugh rang forced and nervous even in his own ears, he could just hope that George didn't hear it. Yeah, fat chance.

"Why? You said you'd already tested it…?"

"Fred, is something wrong with you? We always try our products. Both of us!" George looked confused.

He fought desperately to come up with something that didn't sound like total bullshit.

"But this is so good, we don't need to test it!" his voice cracked as he spoke.

George raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fred, don't you remember our pimple-pastries? We thought they were perfect too, and they worked well enough on me, but your pimples were _green_ and literally ran across your face!"

He knew George was right, he had known so from the very beginning.

He just didn't want to acknowledge it.

"But this one is truly brilliant, it's completely foolproof!"

"Well, what about the smart people, then? It's those we have to worry about. Now try it", George said and held out the potion once more.

"No!"

George looked at him as if he'd just swallowed a whole goat.

He felt the hot blood running to his cheeks color them red. George's looks went from confused to pleading.

"Fred, if you don't drink it, we won't be able to sell it", George pressed on. "_Please?"_

He stared at his brother, trying desperately to fight against the adorable expression. The battle had been lost the moment George's lower lip had begun to pout.

"Give me that", he said grumpily and snatched the potion from the twin's hand. He would just have to come up with a good enough lie to fool his brother. Even if lying to George was close to impossible, he'd had a lot of training at Hogwarts. A little crush shouldn't be too hard to cover up.

He took a deep breath and drank the potion swiftly. It tasted sweetly and almost flower-ish.

"I love George", he was taken aback by his own reaction, by how fast the potion took effect.

"I love George", he blurted again, like the words couldn't get past his lips fast enough.

He battled the impulse to scream and cry, won, and made himself take a deep breath instead.

"I think we need to do some slight modifications; it seems that the potion includes family and friends to", he said and forced himself to look up at George. Blue orbs stared back at him in shock.

"I love George",

It was like hiccups. He couldn't meet George's eyes anymore, not whilst lying to him. Not whilst confessing such a thing.

"I love George",

"No, not a chance, it's based on both love and lust to exclude everything but the person you are _in _love with." George looked lost. "It's impossible",

He didn't know what his twin brother meant was impossible; that he loved him, or that something was wrong the potion. It was not often he didn't understand exactly what George meant.

"I love you", he blushed fiercely, but finally managed to get himself to look up at his twin again. He looked like he didn't know which feeling was the strongest – chock or disbelief.

"Well, something is obviously wrong", he persisted.

George looked up at him so suddenly that he almost jumped. His gaze was so intense that he really didn't know where to go.

"Yes, it seems you are in love with me…"

He felt his heart sink.

He was sure tears had filled his eyes, but managed a fake, forced smile.

"Sod of, George, I can't be in love with you! It would be like falling in love with myself!" he even pressed out a nervous laugh. It had been his intention to make it soothing, instead it just made everything so much worse.

He couldn't believe it. He had just screwed up the only un-screw-up-able relationship he'd had in his life.

"I love you",

Fucking hiccups.

"Face facts, Georgie, it doesn't work like it's supposed to, it's just to remake it! I'm sure it won't take long." he said, voice false to the core. He tried, but this time no smile came. Instead a tear dripped down his face. He quickly turned around and wiped it away as discreetly as possible. Crap, why was he reactiong like this? He had _expected _George to react that way.

"We can go now if you want. I'm just going to dress…" he said, voice steady despite his revolting emotions. "I love you I love you I love you!" he suddenly blurted uncontrollably.

A sob escaped his lips before he managed to close them after the last line of confessions. George heard. Of course George heard.

"You love me…" George said softly.

A sudden anger flared up inside of him. Why couldn't George just leave it alone? That way, that could just forget all about it at some point. Pretend like this stupid incident never happened.

"I _don't_!" he screamed and spun around furiously.

His anger disappeared as soon as he saw George's heartfelt face.

"I do…" his left hand pulled at the red hair at the back of his head, "Fuck… yes, I do, since we were fourteen… I…" he didn't know what else to say. "I'm sorry", he managed finally.

Fred wiped a stubborn tear from his face and let his hand fall.

"I love you, Gorge", this time it sounded nothing like a hiccup, not forced. It slipped past his lips like the confession it was. He almost wasn't sure that it was the potion that made him say it.

"Fred, I…"

"Don't." he interrupted shortly.

"But, Fred, I-"

"Shut _up!_ Leave me alone!" the outburst was past his lips before he could stop it.

For the first time in his life he wished that he was mute. But George was such a smartass that he probably would have invented a potion for sign language if that was the case.

He sank down on the bed with his eyes shut tight to keep the tears away, and buried his head in his hands. A moment later he heard the creaking bedroom door open slowly, then closed just as hesitantly.

For once, George had done as he'd told him to.

A sob shook his body violently. Usually, he wasn't the one to cry, but now… This was his _brother, _his brother who was going to hate him. His _brother, _his _twin, _whom he loved. That was at least ten kinds of wrong!

He had never given it much thought before, but now it was like wrongness of it all just wouldn't leave him alone.

"He's so going to hate me…" he mumbled quietly.

Sure, there was no fucking way that a relationship (that was never going to happen) between the two of them could produce a child, but they were still _siblings. _Twins for Merlin's sake! If George was gay, then… then… then he was a loyal deatheater and secret lover of Rubeus Hagrid!

Oh what in Merlin's name had he been thinking?

"I'm such a moron…" he mumbled through his hands, "such an idiot…"

"Yeah, you are", George suddenly agreed softly.

He lifted his head abruptly.

George kneeled in front of him – obviously having never even left the room – with a small smile on his lips.

He didn't know if he should blush or cry even more. He ended up just staring at his brother.

George lifted his hand and placed it on his cheek, stroking away salty tears with his thumb.

"You are the most unintelligent, ignorant moron who has ever walked this earth if you _ever _think that I'm going to hate you." George said softly and switched to caressing his cheek with the back of his fingers.

Suddenly he was pulled into a firm embrace. Surprise kept him from stopping the sob that escaped his lips. He was almost glad, because George held him even tighter.

"You are also pretty unobservant for never noticing anything", the redhead whispered in his ear.

He opened his eyes abruptly, unaware that he'd shut them in the first place.

Noticing _what?_

"You never found it strange that I always insisted on hiding in small broom cupboards instead of empty classrooms when we were at Hogwarts? You didn't think it was odd that the only bed I was able to '_find'_ was a double? That the couch I picked is so small that it could pass for an armchair, that our kitchen table is so tiny that our knees are bumping all the time? Or that our bathtub and shower – on the contrary – is big enough for two?" George voice trembled.

_Why in Merlin's name is he scared? Please say he doesn't expect me to jump him! He must understand that I would never do that, mustn't he? _

"You don't think it the slightest bit odd that you sometimes wake up to find me staring at you with a hard-on poking you thigh? Please, Fred, not even you could have missed those ones." George said and let go of him with burning cheeks.

"B-b-but…" he stuttered.

He had never thought of those things before, not as planned anyway. He had just thought them to be lucky coincidences that let him to be close to his brother.

_Weren't they? _

"But you… What do you mean? I thought th-mmhph…"

He was quite effectively shut up with George's lips against his own.

"Fred, I love you…" George confessed against his mouth.

"No you don't", he protested with wide eyes.

It just wasn't possible.

To his surprise, George laughed.

"Here, I can prove it to you." He said and made a move to grab the half empty vial that he'd drunk from before.

Before he could protest, George had swallowed the rest of it.

They stared at each other, Fred in horror and George in anticipation. Until they both started to realize that nothing was going to happen. At all.

A laugh of relief escaped him, though he wasn't sure why. Wasn't this exactly _why _he'd been afraid that George would drink the potion? That nothing would happen, and thereby proving that George didn't love anyone, least of all Fred.

The look of confusion on George's face changed into determination. "Don't think I can't prove it to you." His twin said, almost as a threat.

Fred really didn't have a chance to ponder on what threatening things possibly could lie behind that, though, because George suddenly stod and pushed him back on the bed, covering Fred's body with his own. And then he kissed him.

Not careful and sweet like last time. This one was full on and passionate, leaving Fred lightheaded and weak.

"If you don't feel this, Freddikins, I am truly insulted." George teasing and breathy voice said in his ear.

Fred felt so strangely disconnected with his body that he took a moment to realize what George was talking about. Then he couldn't help but grin.

Then he flipped them over so that he was on top. Without any warning he put his hand on George's groin. George's face instantly changed from surprise to complete pleasure as he released a ragged breath. This distracted Fred almost to the degree that he forgot that his mission was teasing.

Dispite remembering it in the last second, his voice was still uneven when he whispered: "Nope, I can't feel anything," in George's ear.

That earned him a puch on his arm and a weak laughter. "I take it that you believe me?"

"Hm…" Fred faked thinking over it, "I don't know, I might need some more convincing…"

"Oh, how demanding you are…" George said with a grin and a faux sigh.

"You haven't seen nothing yet," Fred said and grinned back.

* * *

Happy Valentine's Day, people! :D


End file.
